This excerpt
from "Inside the Teenage Brain" offers a glimpse into
the research of Dr. Jay Giedd ,
a top neuroscientist who's studying the adolescent brain. Giedd
uses magnetic imaging technology to peer into what he calls "the
black box" of teenagers' brains. He's discovered an unexpected
growth spurt, just before puberty, in the frontal cortex (the
area of the brain involved in judgment, planning, and strategizing).
This new growth is followed by a period of pruning and organizing
the new neural connections which continues through adolescence.(RealPlayer:Shoot Screen)